A castle – in France – a Gourmet week –and a lot of nice people, that is the height of luxury. A group of budding cooks full of expectation met at Chateau de Chabenet once again this year. Seventeen chefs and seven accompanying guests were geared up for a week of cooking enjoyment and pure culinary pleasure!
September 2007: Member story from Karin Jockers
The charming lady of the castle, madame Sabine Fessieux welcomed us on Sunday morning with a champagne breakfast. Walter Volkmann, our "chef de cuisine", explained his working principles: preparatory work in the kitchen (mise en place) is left to the last minute "à la minute" and starts once the guests have arrived, in this case ourselves. On Sunday afternoon, we were able to apply these principles ourselves. On the menu: roast foie gras with apple slices, green pea soup with eel medallions, cuisse de poulet with apple sauce and poire Belle Helene. The apples grow in the castle gardens. All chefs are working away industriously!
On Monday morning, we travelled to the Chocolatier Yves Bonneau in Le Blanc: Yves had revealed many of the secrets of cooking with chocolate the previous year, but this year we discovered even more! Yves Bonneau showed us how to bake chocolate cake with bananas on a fine shortcrust base with almonds and how to patch over the odd small mishap. We all lent a hand, beating the butter whipped up a bit of enthusiasm. After a snack in his tearoom, we baked "French brownies" and cookies in the afternoon to take back to the castle for a dessert later. For the chefs in the group, back to the castle meant back to the kitchen. Today we prepared spaghetti and a legendary nut sauce (salsa di noci), the original dish prepared when gourmet week was born: the green nuts in the castle gardens inspired Walter to create this nut sauce. 6 years ago, Sabine Fessieux voluntarily allowed him use the castle kitchen for a cooking lesson and he has since developed a gourmet week and a full programme.
We rose early on Tuesday morning and travelled to Blois to visit the castle with the famous staircase, the historical Saint Lubin district and Saint Nicolas's church. After lunch, we indulged in some wine-tasting. Cheverny, Cour Cheverny and a Crémant were all on the list. On returning to the castle, we hurried straight to the kitchen because we arrived quite late. In spite of the tight time schedule, we managed to conjure up a three-course menu under Walter's guiding hand.
One participant in last year's gourmet week, Rolf Nebendahl, made a professional film about our experiences in the kitchen and our excursions. The film was of particular interest to the members who were present last year. The kitchen held a very interesting experience in store for us today: at 2 p.m., professional chef Thierry Finet from "Le Piet à Terre" restaurant in Châteaumeillant demonstrated how a professional chef controls proceedings in the kitchen. Thierry was accompanied by his sous chef and pastry cook. We prepared mountains of almost "forgotten" vegetables such as yellow, orange and dark red carrots and varieties of beet. We also had to peel and dice a heap of aubergines. Joe and Sam were shown how to fillet sea bream while Barbara, Karl-Heinz, Heinz and Andreas prepared the dessert and practised making almond nests. Thierry and his two assistants then added the last finishing touches. After taking a short break and cleaning the kitchen thoroughly (Walter always insists we keep the work place clean, because not everyone does!), we tasted the fine delicacies that we helped to prepare: aubergine caviar, dominoes of turbot and sea bream followed by Thierry Finet's chocolate wonder.
Today is Thursday and we departed early for Limoges. After exploring the medieval town, the market hall and the delicacies on offer there, we paid a visit to the "Distillerie du Centre", where we were introduced to the intricacies of schnapps and liqueur production as well as tasting some samples! Shortly afterwards, we went for lunch at the "Domaine de Faugeras" restaurant to taste delicacies such as "Coquilles de Saint Jacques", risotto, pigeon and chocolate for dessert, what else! A visit to Limoges would not be complete without perusing the fine selection of porcelain on offer at Royal Limoges! After taking a well-earned "breather" from activities of the day, we met back in the kitchen. Today Walter showed us how to prepare lotte de mer (monkfish) and quickly whip up a four-course menu.
The last day of our gourmet week has arrived. In the morning, we had the opportunity to express our thanks and exchange notes from the past few days. This afternoon would normally be "free", but after having worked so well together this week, the members of the cooking team met in the kitchen instead. After the concert arranged for this evening, we want to organise a leaving celebration and of course prepare something to eat. So back we went to the kitchen to prepare the "mise en place"! In the evening, we met in the castle chapel where Fabienne Goupille sang medieval songs accompanied by Didier Bucherre. A wonderful atmosphere in a magnificent setting! Still reeling from the splendour of the chapel, we then transferred to the lounge. Our last evening together began with a parsnip soup and shrimps followed by a shellfish risotto with herb zabaglione and striped mullet, rounded off by goat's cheese salad. For dessert, we finally got to enjoy the brownies we baked at Yves Bonneau's chocolatier in Le Blanc, steeped in walnut liqueur from the distillery in Limoges. The whole affair was topped off with a glass of champagne.
And so our wonderful action-packed gourmet week came to an end. We all hope to meet again at the castle next year!
Karin Jockers, Offenburg